Alessandro Del Piero

Alessandro Del Piero (Italian pronunciation: [alesˈsandro del ˈpjɛːro]) Ufficiale OMRI^[2][3](born 9 November 1974) is an Italian World Cup-winning footballer who plays for Sydney FCin the A-League. He is third in the ranking of Italian all-time top scorers (332 goals, behindGiuseppe Meazza, 338 goals, and Silvio Piola, 364 goals).^{[4][5][6][7][8][9]} He played inJuventus F.C. for 19 years (11 years as captain) and holds the club records for goals (290) and appearances (705).

Del Piero scored in all competitions in which he participated.^[10] He was named in theFIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living footballers selected by Pelé as a part of FIFA's centenary celebrations.^[11] He was also voted in the list of best European players for the past 50 years in the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll.^[12] In 2000, Del Piero was the world's best-paid football player from salary, bonuses, and advertising revenue. As of December 2012, he is in tenth place among the UEFA Champions League all-time goalscorers.^[13] Along with six awards in Italy for gentlemanly conduct,^[14][15] he has also won the Golden Footaward, which pertains to personality and playing ability.

He played three FIFA World Cup and four UEFA European Football Championship with the Italian national team. He is joint 4th (with Roberto Baggio) in the Italian national team top-scorer ranking, with 27 goals (behind Silvio Piola with 30 goals, Giuseppe Meazza with 33 goals and Luigi Riva with 35 goals) in 91 appearances.

Contents   [hide]  1 Early life 2 Club career 2.1 Early career 2.2 Juventus 2.2.1 European success 2.2.2 Injury 2.2.3 Lippi second era 2.2.4 Capello era 2.2.5 Serie B 2.2.6 Return to Serie A 2.2.7 Champion again 2.3 Sydney FC 3 International career 4 Style of play 4.1 Del Piero Zone 5 Outside football 5.1 Personal life 5.2 Charity work 5.3 TV, games and publicity 6 Career statistics 6.1 Club 6.2 International 6.3 Career totals 6.4 Records 7 Honours 7.1 Juventus 7.2 Italy 7.3 Individual 7.4 Orders 8 References 9 Bibliography 10 External links

[edit]Early life

Born in Conegliano (Veneto), Del Piero is the son of Gino, an electrician, and Bruna, a housekeeper.^[16] He regularly played football in the backyard with two friends, Nelso and Pierpaolo, as a child. All three dreamed of becoming footballers, but only Del Piero would eventually manage to do so.^[17] Alessandro's older brother, Stefano, briefly played professional football for Sampdoria before injury curtailed his career. The family lived in the hamlet of Saccon, a rural home in San Vendemiano. While growing up, Del Piero's family did not have much money for travelling abroad, so he considered being a lorry driver in order to see the world.

While playing for the local youth team of San Vendemiano,^[18] Del Piero used to feature as a goalkeeper because he could play a lot more football that way. His mother thought it would be better for him if he played as a goalkeeper since he would not sweat and the possibility of him getting injured was less likely. His brother Stefano commented to their mother that Alessandro looked better playing in an attacking position and Del Piero switched.^[19]

[edit]Club career

[edit]Early career

He began his rise in 1981 in the ranks of San Vendemiano; in 1988 Del Piero was first spotted by scouts and he left home at the young age of 13 to play with the youth side of Padova.^[20] At 16 he made his debut in Serie B and on 22 November 1992 he scored his first professional goal in the 5-0 against Ternana Calcio.^[21] In 1993, thanks to Giampiero Boniperti, was bought by Juventus for five billion lire, with an overlap of 150 million lire per season.^[22]